


Somebody to Love Them

by InimitableTimeDragon (kairos_system), notthegirlwholived (kairos_system)



Series: Trans Boy Harry Potter [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bravery, Family, Gen, Good Slytherins, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Illness, Mercy - Freeform, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Redemption, St Mungo's Hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 21:57:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10930845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kairos_system/pseuds/InimitableTimeDragon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kairos_system/pseuds/notthegirlwholived
Summary: A year after Delphi begs to be killed or to have a memory wipe, Harry visits her and Bellatrix in St. Mungo's with his husband and mother-in-law.





	Somebody to Love Them

Harry fixed his tie in the mirror of Malfoy Manor, while his husband stood behind him. “Are you ready to go?” Draco asked.

Harry nodded. Today was a day he’d had to do a lot of mental preparation for — he was visiting Bellatrix and Delphini in St. Mungo’s, where they’d been reintroduced to each other after Delphini had been in therapy for a year. 

It was sad to him, how many people had been destroyed not just because of the Dark Lord’s presence in their life, but because of his absence. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Bellatrix Lestrange had been on the receiving end of a curse that would not have ordinarily hurt her so much, but when it was over and the father of her child was dead, she had absolutely broken down. Harry, as acting War Minister, had refused to place her in Azkaban, giving her a permanent room in St. Mungo’s instead. Delphi had received the same treatment when she begged for death or a memory wipe.

Narcissa Black (she’d discarded the last name Malfoy after her husband had been placed in Azkaban for war crimes) stood outside, waiting for her son and son-in-law. Even twenty-something years later, she still looked composed, and her hair hadn’t changed much other than looking more grey and less white.

The three linked arms, and Apparated to St. Mungo’s.

* * *

“Cissy!” Bellatrix said when they arrived, standing up to hug her sister. She regarded the men more coolly, but eventually decided to hug them as well. Hugging the woman who’d been a Death Eater had been weird the first time for Harry, when five years after the Battle of Hogwarts Bellatrix had mentioned some terrible magic her parents had performed on her and Narcissa and Harry, not thinking, had hugged her in hopes of cheering her up. They weren’t exactly friends, but they understood each other more than Harry had thought they would after what had happened in the Department of Mysteries.

Delphi, sitting in front of a book that was turning pages at the swish of her finger, stood up as well. “Hello, Harry,” she said. 

“Hello, Delphi. How has St. Mungo’s been?” Harry asked her.

“Boring,” she admitted. “I’m only allowed to do really mundane magic, but I’ve been allowed to help cook sometimes.”

Harry nodded, trying not to think about how Delphi’s time-travelling antics had almost made it so that Rose and Hugo Granger-Weasley had never existed. Despite not having a biological relation to them, he considered them and the rest of the Weasley children nephews and nieces. 

“You still can’t look at me properly,” Delphi said, looking down at her feet. “That’s okay. I still can’t look at myself in the mirror either.”

Bellatrix crossed the room, and sat down next to her daughter. “We did what we thought we had to do,” she told her. “What we thought he would’ve wanted us to do,”

“Yeah, well at least you had the excuse of him being alive while you did it,” Delphi scoffed.

“Delphi, don’t think about that,” Narcissa said in a firm voice.

“You were brave,” Delphi looked up at her, voice cracking. “You were the best kind of Slytherin.”

“Thank you,” Narcissa answered her, with a graceful nod. “But your mother is brave too.”

Bellatrix scoffed, and Narcissa continued. “It takes a lot of bravery to admit how wrong you were.”

Harry looked at Draco with an embarrassed smile, and Harry rolled his eyes.

* * *

“Do you think you’ll ever release either of them?” Harry asked a St. Mungo’s nurse on his way out.

“Not Mrs. Lestrange,” the nurse answered. “She’s getting older, and needing more care. An ordinary nursing home wouldn’t be able to take care of her.”

“And Delphi?” Harry pressed. 

“Listen, I can’t tell you anything for sure about your cousin,” the nurse said, and then added hesitantly, “but she’s been making some great progress, especially since we reunited her with her mother. I think most of what she wanted was somebody to love her.”

Draco gave Harry a small smile, tightening his grip around his hand.

Harry didn’t blame her for that, even though the people whose affection she’d been looking for were a dark wizard and a dark witch she hadn’t had clearance to visit since she wasn’t family. 

“I hope she can be released,” Harry said, and meant it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Before you shout at me for redeeming them, Bellatrix especially — bear in mind that she has been in St. Mungo's for over twenty years now, receiving mental health care from the best wizard doctors, and also bear in mind that Voldemort was canonically very charming and manipulative, even if it wasn't really shown through Harry's POV.


End file.
